Berkley teen still missing after a month

A 14-year-old Berkley girl is listed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as an “endangered runaway,” after leaving home more than a month ago and causing concerns that she may become vulnerable to victimization.

A 14-year-old Berkley girl is listed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as an “endangered runaway,” after leaving home more than a month ago and causing concerns that she may become vulnerable to victimization.

The national organization has produced a missing child poster and local police are on the lookout for Jenna Cote, who apparently ran away on Aug. 8 from the Berkley home where her adoptive grandparents raised her.

Cote is 5 feet tall and weighs 100 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes and pierced ears. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Berkley Police Department urge anyone who sees Cote to report the information to authorities immediately, either by calling Berkley Police, 911 or 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

Authorities said Cote was last seen by a tipster in Taunton sometime in early September. She would have been entering her freshman year at Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical High School in Taunton this year.

Berkley Police Officer Jason McGovern, who is assigned to the case, said Cote was entered in the National Crime Information Center database, providing information to law enforcement officials across the country who may encounter her.

“We followed a couple of leads in the New Bedford area,” McGovern said. “None have been fruitful. Someone saw her in early September in Taunton. That was not fruitful. Also, there was a sighting in Fall River. That lead turned out to be negative.”

McGovern said “we are concerned for her, being 14 years old.” He said police would like anyone with any information to either come forward.

“It’s unfortunately a waiting game for us,” McGovern said. “We’ll follow up any lead that comes in. Our officers of course are all aware of it. There is a poster in our lobby. Each officer has the girl’s picture in their cruisers.”

Cote’s grandfather said Jenna, who is “kind of a mature 14-year-old, or at least thinks she is,” took one of his cars on Aug. 8. He has not seen her since. The car was recovered the next day in New Bedford. Her grandfather, Robert Cote, 85, says he does not want to press charges regarding the stolen car.

“I have no idea where she is,” he said Robert Cote. “I don’t know whether she is danger or who she is with. … Yes, I am (worried). At 14 years old, I don’t think she should be off somewhere by herself. I think she could be with her boyfriend, who is somewhere around 15 to 18. I don’t think that’s a very good situation.”

Jenna Cote posted one of her most recent messages on Facebook on July 24, expressing distress that her grandparents were giving her up to state custody.

“Okay so today my DCF worker told me that my grandparents were giving up custody of me, so yeah,” the post on Cote’s page said, adding that she was upset that she wasn’t going to be able to see her friends and boyfriend anymore. “It’s so (expletive) up that they did this to me and then they DCF goes and tells me that if i do good that i wont be taking away from them like how many lies were told to me...? im hurting so bad right.”

Page 2 of 2 - Robert Cote said that there was confusion when he announced plans to sell the 10-room house they live in.

“She thought we were going to turn her over to somebody else, put her in a home or something or other,” Robert Cote said. “She didn’t want to go with us.”

Cote explained that he and his wife adopted four children decades ago, one of them being Jenna Cote’s biological mother. The grandparents ended up raising Jenna Cote in the large Berkley home for all her life except for a couple months when the girl lived as a baby with the biological mother on DeWert Avenue at a public housing development in Taunton.

Bob Lowery, head of the Missing Children Division at NCMEC, based in Alexandria Virginia, said his organization receives reports of 2,000 children each day who go missing, with a recovery rate of 97 percent. He said that most are found within days or weeks, although some like Jenna can take months or even years.

“I would have to say a case like Jenna’s, I expect she will be found more sooner than later,” Lowery said. “Engaging public is helpful. … We are very concerned about her welfare and safety. The longer they are missing and not returned to safe environment, the more vulnerable they are to victimization. This child is going to have to take care of herself. Nourishment. Shelter. Clothes. She may have to depend on someone who may take advantage of them. They are very vulnerable to victimization. We take these cases very seriously.”